22/10/2023
After a really wet half-term week, the U10 Eagles 🦅 dodged a waterlogged fixture cancellation by playing Dunton & Broughton on a nice dry 3G pitch.
The early 09:15 kickoff meant Jacob F had to deal with a difficult low sun shining straight into his eyes in the first half.
The Eagles 🦅 started slowly and caused alot of their own problems by not tracking back quickly, with Dunton opening the scoring with a breakaway attack.
This set back jolted the Eagles 🦅 into life and they started to pass the ball around. As soon as they did this it created numerous chances that required the Dunton goalkeeper to make good saves.
After a period of sustained pressure, Tom whipped in a corner to the front post, finding the onrushing Jeevan to side foot it past the goalkeeper ⚽️
The goal seemed to spur on the Thurlaston boys, with Ronnie fizzing a rocket shot just past the top corner, a shot hitting the post and the Dunton keeping needing to make a good 1v1 tackle to stop a certain goal for Ronnie.
Despite Thurlaston pressing the opposition and creating several more good chances, the first half ended with things even.
The first 5 minutes of the second half were calamitous as Dunton quickly scored several goals, with the scoring opportunities occurring after stray passes from the Eagles 🦅 and then the boys not tracking back to help defend.
Jacob F made numerous great reaction saves to thwart Dunton, whilst also showing a lot of agility to get back up and make follow-up saves from other Dunton players who tried to hit the loose ball into the Thurlaston net 🧤
As the second half progressed, the Eagles were unlucky not to score several goals themselves, with Archie being denied an obvious penalty when he was clumsily hacked in the Dunton penalty area.
Despite the result, there were several positives to take from the game: Dylan making his debut for the Eagles 🦅, multiple goal scoring chances being created, and some amazing saves from Jacob F.
Focus areas in training will be making sure everyone tracks back and focuses on their defensive duties, to avoid a repeat of the 4v2 situations that are always likely to result in a goal being conceded.
Player of the Match 🏆 went to Jacob F for his great goalkeeping display, especially when facing a lot of opposition attackers pinging shots at him in his penalty area. 👏
